What's Next For American Health Care

Published May 8, 2017 at 9:00 AM CDT

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by, from left, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 2, 2017, following a policy luncheon. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

American health care goes to the Senate after the big House vote. We’ll ask what’s coming.

House Republicans got their vote on healthcare last week. Got their bill. Got their Rose Garden high fives from the president. Now comes the rough part. It’s not law until the Senate gets in there. That could go anywhere or nowhere. And the House bill itself? Savaged over the weekend for leaving millions uncovered to give a trillion to the rich in tax breaks. President Trump promised great health care. What’s actually coming? This hour On Point, slam bam healthcare goes to the Senate. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Mary Agnes Carey, partnerships editor and senior correspondent at Kaiser Health News, covering health care reform and federal health policy. ( @maryagnescarey)

Paul Howard, senior fellow and director of health policy at the Manhattan Institute. ( @PaulHowardMI)

Jonathan Cohn, senior national correspondent at HuffPost, covering health care, social welfare and politics. ( @CitizenCohn)

From Tom’s Reading List

New York Times: The Next Step for the Republican Health Care Bill: A Skeptical Senate —

“On the Senate side, where several Republicans have long been deeply skeptical of the House effort, the bill is expected to undergo sweeping changes that might leave it unrecognizable — perhaps stripping away some of the provisions that helped earn the support of hard-right House members and ultimately secure its passage.”

The Atlantic: How Obamacare Repeal Could Run Aground in the Senate — “Now, however, the fate of the nation’s health-care system has landed on their doorstep. And although President Trump on Thursday said with confidence that ‘we’re going to get this through the Senate,’ the reality is that Republicans in the upper chamber might not vote on the American Health Care Act at all. Instead, the Senate will likely try to write and pass its own bill that would then have to be reconciled with the House version and approved by both chambers once more.”

HuffPost: Paul Ryan Was Right: This Was A Defining Moment For The Republican Party — “The AHCA would expose many millions of Americans, including some of society’s most vulnerable members, to the possibility of crippling medical expenses ― forcing them to choose between financial hardship, medical hardship or both. At the same time, it would lower taxes on corporations and wealthy Americans, to the tune of $594 billion over 10 years. Insurance for millions, or tax cuts for millionaires ― that was one of the choices House Republicans faced on Thursday when they voted on the bill. And, with just a small handful of exceptions, they chose the latter.”